Thursday, January 28, 2010

It's a great word that describes some of the great benefits you get from networking with your eyes and ears open. In addition to the stuff you have planned you find opportunities and people that you never imagined.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

I met someone new at a networking group last week who said "It was tough last year and we need some new customers". I asked how long he was prepared to give it and he said he might come once more to see if he got any business. I asked him why he thought that it was the people who committed for the long term that got results. He said "I suppose it's really about building relationships".

Exactly right. Networking is about building a route to market for the longer term through trusted relationships. To build a relationship you first need to connect and then regularly follow up on that original connection and build trust.

Turning up once or maybe twice is hardly enough to connect and it certainly does not build trust. In fact it often has the opposite effect on your brand.

Monday, January 25, 2010

At a meeting earlier this month people were talking about how difficult it is to keep track of all the interactions we now have both online and offline. Last month in my National Networker Column I wrote about the many different ways we have of keeping in touch with the advent of social networks and social media. Online networks give us a a really effective tool for supporting our offline business networking activities. As I have written before, though, they only do that, however, if we go about both activities strategically.

1. Get comfortable with how networking works2. Develop a plan3. Identify the people you already know, like & trust4. Identify the offline networks to join5. Show a genuine interest in other people6. Always follow up contacts7. Identify the online networks to join and start a blog8. Make online contacts and build relationships first9. Arrange contact meetings10. Develop Networking Advocates

Sunday, January 24, 2010

How can I make such a statement to you baby boomers? After all. Seth says:- I didn't set out to get you to quit your job- or to persuade you to become an entrepreneur- or merely to change the world.

Yet, he also says: ...fearful employees are in pain. They're in pain because they're overlooked, underpaid, laid off, and stressed out.”

“You weren't born to be a cog in the great industrial machine. You were trained to be a cog.”“ You were promised: Follow these instructions and you don't have to think”

Now I ask, who can he be speaking to other than baby boomers. Who has lived under this training longer than any other generations? All of our lives, we baby boomers have been “pushed to produce, to conform, and to consume”. That is why 77+ million of us are looking to end our work careers. That is why many of us are seeking an alternative to traditional retirement and searching for advice on how to start your baby boomer business. We don't want anymore “attendance based compensation”.

We want the choice to be indispensable and to make a difference. As consumers, employees, and business owners - we do not want to participate in the old model “of racing to make average stuff for average people in huge quantities”.

As baby boomer entrepreneurs, we are starting baby boomer businesses at an amazing clip. We are already half of all the self employed business owners in America. Baby boomer women are leading the way at business formation at about twice the rate of men.

Seth doesn't promise you a map. What he does provide is a compass to point you in the right direction. He does advise you to focus on the audience you choose. He advises you to listen to them to the exclusion of all others. He advises making these customers happy. “Let the other guys pound sand”.

The important thing is that you know what you want rather than network without any clear idea of what you want. That way as you build relationships and help others achieve their goals you can let them know exactly what you are looking for.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

People new to networking will often look to 'network' with people from completely different businesses. Last week an IT provider said he was reluctant to attend an event because many of the other attendees were also 'in IT'. I asked one of these other people who he preferred to network with. He said, "Thats easy. Other people in IT services and support. They know what I'm talking about and we very rarely compete even though it may look like we do something similar. The opportunities for working together or referring each other far outweigh any competitive concerns."

The reality is that people in similar businesses can form relationships much quicker than with those in different fields.

As I wrote in As I wrote in 'Applying the 7 habits to your business networking' habit 6 is 'Synergise'. Look for synergies whenever you meet people and add them to your network. The value of future collaboration will exceed the sum of what each of you could achieve on your own.

According to Wikipedia a synergy is where different entities cooperate advantageously for a final outcome. Simply defined, it means that the effect of the whole is greater than the sum of the effects of the individual parts. Although the whole will be greater than each individual part, this is not the concept of synergy. If used in a business application it means that teamwork will produce an overall better result than if each person was working toward the same goal individually.

Monday, January 18, 2010

The third Monday of January every year is a public holiday in the United States to celebrate the life of Martin Luther King. One of his famous quotes is very apt with regard to success in business networking:

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?"

The most successful networkers are not looking for people to sell to. They are constantly looking out for opportunities to connect others to what they need. They build relationships by doing that with people who get to know, like, and trust them. As I said in 'How to make your follow up productive', it is the giving of opportunities to others that will produce opportunities for you as people reciprocate.

Friday, January 15, 2010

A couple of days ago in 'Why follow up is so important' I wrote about the importance of follow up in networking. You get to know people by spending time in conversation with them and others at regular networking group meetings. You get to know, like and trust them by following that up with One2One interactions.

You should treat that as an opportunity to really understand the other person rather than an opportunity to pitch. If you are not regularly finding yourself able to give referrals, connect people and share your knowledge then you need to be asking better questions. It is by getting to know, like, and trust people and giving them opportunities that will produce opportunities for you as people reciprocate.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I ran a business networking seminar this week when I asked 2 questions.

1. Do you agree that all things being equal people do business with and refer business to the people they know, like and trust?

2. Do you agree that all things being unequal people STILL do business with and refer business to the people they know like and trust?

The answer to both was a resounding yes, so I asked another.

"Why then do you spend most of your networking time getting to know lots of people a bit?"

You don't get to know, like and trust people by meeting once or twice. You get to know them by spending time in conversation with them and others at regular networking group meetings and by following that up with One2One interactions. That's follow up and you don't get to know, like and trust someone without it.

When you agree to "keep in touch" it means to maintain communications so that you keep up-to-date with knowledge about each other. That is how you continue to get to know each other and how you can help them and they can help you. We have more and more ways of keeping in touch than ever as this illustration shows:

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

In 'How to get what you want from your networking in 2010' I wrote about setting yourself targets for your networking activities as part of an overall strategy. The ultimate aim of your business networking is to create a network of advocates who regularly promote you and your services without being asked or paid and when you are not there.

The number one way of getting your network to regularly advocate you is to advocate them first.

Remember habit 4 of Stephen R Covey's Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is think Win/Win. Applying this in networking means developing a giving mentality and becoming an Advocate for others.

In this podcast I explain this and some of the other ways of motivating others in your Inner Network to advocate you.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Roman Ross and I met for breakfast at a truck stop in Dallas. It was a great way for old friends to begin the new year. We like the buffet at the truck stop, having met there for breakfast before. It has good food and lots of variety, all at a reasonable price.

We were greeted by a very gracious server who seated us and brought menus. Roman asked her if there would be a buffet. The server told us the buffet wouldn't be open for about thirty minutes. Or, we could order anything we wanted from the menu. Roman told her we would wait for the buffet. The server brought us coffee. While we waited, we began to discuss the problems of the world, especially the new ones that have unfolded since our last visit.

New Year's Day is always a good time to discuss the topic of change. Change influences options. For many of us baby boomers, change seems to have reduced our options. We are older. For many of us, our problems are health related: vision, mobility, high blood pressure or diabetes.

Perhaps our problem is from our history. We might have issues lingering from earlier in life. We might not have the "right college major". We might have dropped out of college. We migh not have gone to college.

Perhaps our problem is from our present. We are getting a divorce. We don't have a job. Our industry that we have worked in all our life is dead, downsized, or outsourced. Our car isn't running.

The key to our future is recognizing and understanding problems. This is not about problems in the since of our personal sources of vexation and perplexity. We must understand the problems of people around us. We must think of problems in the sense of being a question raised for consideration or a solution.

All around us, people have problems that require solutions. People are eager to find solutions to their problems and will look upon you as a hero if you can show them effective solutions. They will pay you to help them find solutions when they don't know how to solve their problems.

Just as I was sharing my point about the word "problems" having two definitions, I noticed the servers were opening the buffet. Before I could suggest to Roman that we head over, I realized that people were getting up all over the restaurant. They were making their way to the buffet in mass.

Roman and I just sat and drank a bit more coffee. We watched the people serving themselves. The buffet became our case study on solving problems of people around us. We saw how the restaurant manager became the hero for 25 - 30 people by opening the buffet...by providing what the people wanted.

Though it was not obvious when we first arrived, it looked like nearly everyone in the restaurant was waiting for the buffet. Presumaby, we were all hungry. We could have ordered from the menu pretty much anything that we would have taken from the buffet. But we all wanted the buffet.

The solution to our hunger problem was not just food, but food delivered in a special way. The buffet gave us a package with options under our control. We could have what we wanted, with any combination we wanted, and as much as we wanted. As one of the hamburger commercials promises, we could have it "OUR WAY" and we had control of the maximum price.

Having once been a restaurant owner, I enjoy referring to delivering your product or service in such a special way as your "special sauce". YOUR special sauce is what makes your solution different and...to the taste of your customer. A hamburger can be a commodity like a light bulb if there is no way to tell one from another. A hamburger becomes special when your special sauce gives the hamburger a taste that makes your customer drive across town...to get a hamburger that tastes exactly the way they want it to taste.

So the way we create opportunities or options in our future is not to study the problems that limit us. Success is in studying the problems limiting those around us. We want to offer solutions to their problems. Our problems must have our "special sauce"...the way that not only fills their hunger, but in a way exactly according to their taste. Our special sauce makes it impossible for anyone else to solve their problem our way. Your problem is to find solutions to things vexing and frustrating those around you. The solutions to the problems of others are your doorway to new opportunities.

So, baby boomer entrepreneur, look around and discover the problems of health, the problems of the past, and the problems of the present...the problems that limit and vex those around you. Be the leader in solving a problem or some aspect of the problem, so you can help those around you. We call that a niche. What problem of others will you adopt for the purpose of finding solutions? To whom will you be a hero? So, baby boomer entrepreneur, what is your problem?ShallieFollow me on Twitter

PS...Do you need help with your baby boomer business? Do you want to develop your special sauce? Join our free mailing list. Just fill on the box in the top right corner of this page. I will share with you some of the best business building tips available for free on the Internet. We can help you find your problem, the one that will solve the needs of your customers and will make you their hero.